Architecture lovers can go behind closed doors this week as part of the third Moscow “Days of Architecture” festival, which runs till Oct. 11. The festival is a mix of walks, bike and bus tours and seminars that gives unrivalled access to new and old architecture. “The main aim is to give professionals, architecture lovers and all those who are partial to city life a chance to get together and appreciate the most prominent achievements in the city,” said Alexander Zmeul, one of the curators of the festival, in a telephone interview.
There are similar events in Nizhny Novgorod and Yekaterinburg. The festival and the number of people wanting to take part are growing each year, Zmeul said. He urged anyone wanting to participate to register as quickly as possible. “We are trying to expand our program, but still not everyone is able to become a participant,” he said.
A bus tour “PromoProm: Industrial Heritage” on Oct. 10 will show the different strategies used for converting brownfield sites into residential or office buildings, or in the case of Krasny Oktyabr, the 19th-century chocolate factory, into an art gallery and now a strip club. New buildings that festival participants will get a chance to see include the Russian Academy of Theatrical Art’s new building at Noviye Cheryomushki in southwest Moscow and the new building for GITIS, the famous theater school.
“The festival’s program has been composed in such a way that it aims to demonstrate the works of the most prominent contemporary architects, as well as examples of historic architecture and works by young design bureaus,” curator Natalia Alexeyeva said on the event’s web site. The festival will also include a trip to Smartville Dmitrovka, a cottage compound just outside the city. All its cottages are easy-to-assemble houses of 95 square meters to 200 square meters built according to modern German sectional house-building technologies.
Housed in Fusion Park, one of the most praised new buildings in Moscow, the Autoville Museum of unique automobiles, is the subject of a walk on Oct. 8. The museum, which was created by the company Inteko, has its own exhibition on futuristic design. The festival will finish with a walk around the famous avant-garde House of Culture built for the workers of the Zavod imeni Likhachyova automobile factory.
In another look at Soviet architectural heritage, a seminar called “Architectural Policy and Political Architecture” on Oct. 10 is dedicated to the relationships between the Soviet authorities and architects in the 1920s and 1930s as Soviet architects were pushed away from the avant-garde and into classicism.
The festival has also arranged visits by some of the city’s best-known architecture and design bureaus, such as the Asadov design bureau, which was behind the new theater building at Noviye Cheryomushki. All events in the program are free of charge.
The third Moscow “Days of Architecture” festival runs till Oct. 11. For more information, see Archidays.ru
A Message from The Moscow Times:
Dear readers,
We are facing unprecedented challenges. Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent."
These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia. The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate, unbiased reporting on Russia.
We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help.
Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact.
By supporting The Moscow Times, you're defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us.
Remind me later.